Forty years ago marks what is likely the worst day in the history of the Mahoning Valley.

"Black Monday" marked the beginning of the end for the local steel industry.

The day was September 19, 1977.  Five thousand people lost their job at Youngstown Sheet and Tube.

Over the next four years, a total of five major steel mills closed, costing the Valley tens of thousands of jobs.

Gary Steinbeck remembers that day.  He was a Warren steelworker at the time. He says it literally ruined lives.

"Some people could recover from it and move on and find other employment. Some people could barely survive. For others, it was total destruction and they never recover from it," said Steinbeck.

It's doubtful any community could bounce back from such a massive job loss. That's why we are still seeing the effects today with thousands of vacant homes still seen in Youngstown and in Warren.

So why did it happen?  There isn't just one reason.  The mills were not being updated and could not keep up with the foreign competition where workers there got paid a lot less. Cars all of a sudden got smaller and needed less steel. Then there was our location.  

"We were inland. Everything had to be by rail or trucked in. We're not by a body of water. That's probably why we got hit first," said Youngstown State University Professor of History Dr. Donna DeBlasio.

Forty years later, Youngstown is a much different place.  We work less in manufacturing and more in service industries like medical and education.

And our younger generation has only pictures of what these places used to look like and how much prosperity they brought to our region.